10 Kingdom Hearts III Details That Suggest the Story Is Even More Complicated Than You Thought

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Published Jun 11, 2026, 2:24 PM EDT

Daniel Trock is a Contributor at DualShockers specializing in PC games, lists, and reviews. He has been writing professionally since 2018 and covering games since 2020, with previous work spanning guides, news, lists, and reviews across multiple publications.

Before joining DualShockers, Daniel contributed guides to GamerJournalist and lists to TheGamer. He currently covers tech topics for SlashGear and BGR. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Marist College and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative and Professional Writing from Western Connecticut State University.

It’s no secret that the overall plot cohesion of the Kingdom Hearts series is… disjointed, to put it diplomatically. I’ve been on this wagon since the series started, and even I need to consult a wiki regularly just to keep all the details straight. There was a lot of speculation in the long span between Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts III, and when the latter finally came out, it did answer some questions, but definitely not all of them, and it also raised even more questions in the process.

Every Kingdom Hearts World, Ranked

Even at their worst, these worlds are still better than Gummi Ship missions.

Kingdom Hearts III was supposed to be the end of the Xehanort saga, but both its story and the stories presented in supplementary material like Union X have just created even more loose threads that need to be tied up sooner or later (if they ever get tied up). Until we get those answers, there are some details within Kingdom Hearts III’s story that we can focus in on to try to get ourselves on the right track for whenever the next game comes out.

Spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III (and the rest of the series, obviously)!

10 The Power of Waking

What Can it Do? What Can’t it Do?

Back in Kingdom Hearts 3D, Sora and Riku undertook their Mark of Mastery exam in the Sleeping Worlds both to prove they were actual Keyblade Masters and, more importantly, learning how to use the Power of Waking. Given the name, the assumption was that the Power of Waking was just meant to wake stuff up, and indeed, we see Sora use the power in this capacity to wake Ventus up.

However, at the end of Kingdom Hearts III, Sora also uses the power to retrieve his friends’ hearts from the verge of death after they’re wiped out, then again to go back in time to revive Kairi after she’s killed. Apparently, the logic behind this is that the worlds of sleep and death border one another, so waking stuff up can be used for revival purposes, though that doesn’t really explain the time travel stuff, nor why Sora is effectively banished from reality for abusing this power. The specific fact that Sora got into metaphysical hot water for using this power implies there’s some kind of intelligence behind it, a governing force beyond the forces of light and dark. It just seems too specific to happen on its own.

9 Yozora

Is he Real?

In the Toy Box level of Kingdom Hearts III, we see Rex getting obsessed with a video game called Verum Rex, whose protagonist Yozora he repeatedly mistakes Sora for. At first, this just seems like a gag, that Rex has been playing too many Square Enix games and is getting their protagonists confused. However, the game’s secret boss ends up being Yozora himself, with his fight against Sora on the rooftops of Quadratum apparently being a recurring dream for Riku since Sora’s disappearance at the end of the game.

According to the Nameless Star who dwells in the Final World, Yozora is, in fact, a real person, with his world apparently existing on a separate plane of reality from Sora’s. This plane of “Unreality” is touched upon again in Melody of Memory, with Quadratum being the only known world there. More to the point, if this parallel plane exists, how was Yozora’s presence able to leak through like that, and in such an innocuous place as a video game enjoyed by a plastic T. rex?

8 Xehanort and Eraqus

Are they Out for Good?

At the end of Kingdom Hearts III, Sora finally defeats Xehanort and his other incarnations in the real Organization, with the spirit of Eraqus appearing to urge him to finally stand down and rest. Xehanort ultimately relents, and the two presumably disappear off to the Final World. However, maybe this is just me being paranoid, but given Xehanort’s propensity for the long game, I find it a little hard to believe that he’d give up that easily.

Even if Xehanort isn’t the primary antagonist anymore, he had his grody fingers in a lot of pies in the several decades between earning his Mark of Mastery and becoming the old bald guy we know and loathe today, and it’s very possible at least one of those pies still has a spark of his dark mojo in it. For that matter, is it possible Eraqus had similar irons in the fire during those long years? We see in Dark Road that he was very affected by Xehanort’s fall to darkness, and given Xehanort wasn’t subtle about his scheming, I would hope that Eraqus took at least a few extra countermeasures.

Where is it?

In the climax of Kingdom Hearts III, Xehanort successfully forges the X-Blade and opens the door to Kingdom Hearts. When Sora, Donald, and Goofy follow him in, they find themselves in the city of Scala ad Caelum, or at least a facsimile of it. According to supplementary information, Scala ad Caelum was built atop the ruins of Daybreak Town, and served as a nexus to many other worlds. It’s also where Xehanort and Eraqus grew up and received their Keyblade training.

At least as far as we know, no particular calamity ever struck Scala ad Caelum. It should still be a functional city with people living in it, but the city we see here is completely empty. Given Xehanort’s ability to manipulate its space, it’s probably not the real one, but if it’s not the real Scala ad Caelum, then where is the real city, and why can’t anyone seem to willingly return to it? I guess maybe there’s just no reason to go there, but surely there must be some helpful knowledge of Keyblades, light, and darkness there?

6 Luxord’s Wild Card

Where the Heck did he Come From?

We know the vast majority of the human identities of Organization XIII. Xehanort notwithstanding, some of them were Ansem’s guards and apprentices in Radiant Garden, others were former Dandelions of Daybreak Town. The only two we don’t know the origins of are Demyx and Luxord. Demyx, well, he probably doesn’t warrant too much thought, but Luxord? There’s definitely something going on with that guy.

In the climax of Kingdom Hearts III, after Sora defeats Luxord, he gives Sora a present before fading away: a “wild card,” one of his usual playing cards that he says Sora could use to “turn the tables.” Sora doesn’t use this card before the end of the game, so presumably, wherever he is now, he still has it on his person. But what exactly did Luxord mean by “turn the tables,” and perhaps more importantly, who even is Luxord to be able to bestow such a powerful, yet vague gift? If he’s not a Dandelion or one of Ansem’s apprentices, then where does such a noteworthy individual come from, and how did he fall in with the Organization?

5 Luxu’s Long Game

How Long has Luxu Been Working on This?

Luxu was one of the first apprentices of the Master of Masters, though unlike the Foretellers, he only wore the generic black coat rather than an animal-themed outfit. We never saw his original face, but we did know that the Master of Masters had entrusted him with the No Name Keyblade to ensure its Gazing Eye could see the future, as well as the Black Box, which we’ll get to in a minute. More importantly, in Union X, we learn that Luxu had apparently been taking on a series of vessels to both preserve and hide himself, and at the end of Kingdom Hearts III, it was revealed that Xigbar/Braig was his latest vessel.

Why I Keep Replaying Kingdom Hearts 2 Every Single Year

I guess you could say this game has become My Sanctuary.

During that reveal, Luxu summons back all the Foretellers from… wherever the heck they’ve all been, and informs them that his role in all of this has been successfully fulfilled, adding that Ava’s role was apparently fulfilled as well based on her absence. If Luxu has only just finished whatever he was working on, then how long has he been playing the long con here? And, obviously, what could even have been the point of all this?

4 The Black Box

What Could be in There?

Alongside the No Name Keyblade and his personal copy of the Book of Prophecies, Luxu was tasked by the Master of Masters to haul a big ol’ Black Box on his little long-game journey with him and stash it somewhere. What’s in that big box? Boy, wouldn’t I like to know.

Obviously, the existence of this sealed black chest, alongside the fact that the Master of Masters specifically thought it was important enough to warrant a dedicated mission, is one of the biggest question marks on the series right now. Here’s something even bigger, though: throughout Kingdom Hearts III, Maleficent and Pete are traveling the worlds in search of it. Now, how in the heck did her irrelevant butt get wind of something so (allegedly) important? At least as far as I know, the only ones in the know about the box are Luxu himself and maybe the Foretellers, but unless Luxu went out of his way to deliberately leak the details to Maleficent, who could have told her about it, and why? I guess the Master of Masters could’ve done it, but again, why, and for that matter, when?

3 Ventus’s Chirithy

How did It Get to the Final World?

In Kingdom Hearts III, after Sora and his allies are completely wiped out by the Organization in the Keyblade Graveyard, Sora finds himself dumped into the Final World, the last stop before departed hearts go wherever they go. That’s a whole kettle of fish in itself, but what really makes this whole thing surprising is who Sora meets here: a Chirithy. Specifically, Ventus’s Chirithy from his time in Daybreak Town.

Admittedly, the Chirithys are rather ephemeral creatures to begin with, being Spirit Dream Eaters specifically created to guide and protect their bonded Keyblade-wielders. The question, then, is why Ventus’s Chirithy is in the Final World, and why it doesn’t seem especially bothered by this. As I mentioned before, the realms of sleep and death border each other, so I suppose Ventus’s time asleep is what brought Chirithy to the Final World, but if that’s the case, shouldn’t it have followed him back to the waking world? Sora did manage to bring it back to Ventus, which was nice, but how come it was able to return when Sora wasn’t?

2 Subject X

Who is She, and Where is She?

Throughout their appearances in Kingdom Hearts II, Chain of Memories, and 3D, Axel/Lea and Saix/Isa seem to care more about restoring their lost hearts or preserving their friendships than anything else. However, in Kingdom Hearts III, it’s revealed that the two of them originally joined up with Ansem’s apprentices and the Organization because they were trying to track down a missing girl. We don’t know this girl’s name, but according to the Secret Reports, she was kept in Ansem’s laboratories and nicknamed “Subject X.”

Apparently, Subject X had no particular memory of her past beyond some vague recollection of four friends and a key, plus that dumb phrase the Master of Masters always says. Xehanort was operating under the assumption she traveled through time for some reason, but that was never confirmed before Braig took her away somewhere. We don’t know who she was or where she went, and there are only a handful of potential candidates for known characters she could end up being, with Skuld and Strelitzia springing to mind. At the very least, if she did time travel, we’re guaranteed to get a definitive answer on that eventually.

1 The Master of Masters

Just… What’s his Deal?

In Union X and Kingdom Hearts III, we learn of the Master of Masters, teacher to the Foretellers and arguably one of the wisest, most powerful Keyblade Masters in known history. Of course, we know precious little about him since, like Luxu, he never takes his black coat off. What we do know, though, is that it’s his eyeball in the No Name Keyblade, and by having Luxu (and Xehanort, I guess) carry it around, that’s what lets him see future events and, in turn, write the contents of the Book of Prophecies.

Based on supplementary information, the Master was a survivor of a previous Keyblade War, wherein many of his comrades were consumed by a powerful entity representing the forces of darkness. The reason he wrote multiple versions of the Book of Prophecies was so that, in the event the agents of darkness read it, they might not actually get the right answers to future events. I assume what this is all leading to is some kind of showdown between the Master and this dark entity, but where Sora and company fit into things, that’s another question entirely.